Freddy Eastwood’s bid to re-ignite his Wolves career has suffered a setback after he had an operation to repair a broken bone in his hand.The £1.5m summer capture is the leading candidate to replace the cup-tied Sylvan Ebanks-Blake for the fourth round Cup clash at Vicarage Road tomorrow but is now sweating on whether he can play with a cast on his injured hand.
Eastwood insists he is fit but Mick McCarthy says it must be safety first for the striker even though he will ask the referee Keith Stroud for permission to play the forward.
McCarthy admits losing Eastwood would be a blow but in a major boost for Wolves much-missed winger Michael Kightly is a surprise candidate for a substitutes role tomorrow - and Gary Breen may also figure.
“Freddy was a little bit disappointed when he walked in yesterday with a cast on his hand - we’ll just have to see whether there is a chance of him playing with it.
“He had to have an operation to repair the bone so we do have to be careful.
“For safety’s sake we don’t want him landing on the bone so we’ll just have to see.”
Kightly’s return would be a huge plus for the Wolves boss and his excellent progress from an ankle injury this week may be rewarded with a place on the bench.
“He’s been training with us with no problem which is great news. As for whether he’s involved tomorrow, we’ll see.
“We might get a bit out of him but only if he’s definitely OK because we don’t want to rush him.
“We’ve got three games coming up in a week as well, so maybe we’ll have to take that into consideration too.”
Stephen Ward looks set to miss out with a knee injury while Jody Craddock is definitely out.
But Darron Gibson is fit and he is in line to replace the cup-tied David Edwards in the heart of midfield.
Meanwhile, McCarthy today rubbished morning reports of £2.5m bid for Karl Henry from Premiership Reading.
“There is absolutely no truth in that whatsoever. I think I know what kind of bloke Steve (Morgan) is and he’d pick the phone up and tell me if there had been any kind of bid for one of my players.”
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